Within royal palaces : a brilliant and charmingly written inner view of emperors, kings, queens, princes and princesses ... . one time he had over $10,000,-000 invested in the company. It is lucky that he cleared outbefore the collapse, and in that particular case he proved more (5«7) 58S WITHIN ROYAL PALACfeS. fortunate than in connection with his Congo investments Thelatter have swallowed up not only the major part of his ownvast fortune, but also that which he holds in trust for hissister, the ex-Empress Charlotte of Mexico. Indeed there aremany who do nothesitate to declarethat the unfortu
Within royal palaces : a brilliant and charmingly written inner view of emperors, kings, queens, princes and princesses ... . one time he had over $10,000,-000 invested in the company. It is lucky that he cleared outbefore the collapse, and in that particular case he proved more (5«7) 58S WITHIN ROYAL PALACfeS. fortunate than in connection with his Congo investments Thelatter have swallowed up not only the major part of his ownvast fortune, but also that which he holds in trust for hissister, the ex-Empress Charlotte of Mexico. Indeed there aremany who do nothesitate to declarethat the unfortunatelady is no longer inany way demented,and that the only causefor which she is stillkept under restraintand in such strict se-clusion is the kinorsdread of being call-ed to account for herfortune, which hasbeen in his keepingever since 1867. Strange it is, at anyrate, that the Em-press Charlottes aunt,Queen Victoria, hasnever been allowedto see or visit her,although she has re-peatedly sought to doso. Nor indeed, hasany one else been permitted to see the ex-Empress exceptingKing Leopold and his wife. Queen THE KING OF THE BELGIANS. THE ROYAL FAMILY OF BELGIUM. 589 Even the moments when he tries to be most agreeable,King- Leopold gives one the impression of being insincere,and the conviction that he will regard you as a fool if youbelieve him. It is a great mistake to give credence to thepopular belief that he is a spendthrift; for almost all his dis-bursements are made in the hope of receiving large returns,and if the latter are not realized, it is merely that his specu-lation has been unfortunate. One little trifling incident may suffice to illustrate the meanside of his character. He was receiving a o^entleman whohad rendered him several services of considerable official andpersonal importance. Leopold had decided to recognizethese by the presentation of a handsome jewel-studded snuff-box. During the course of his conversation with the man Iwatched the King tak
Size: 1194px × 2094px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectcourtsandcourtiers
